Chapter 8

“Oh, Gabriel,” Sherry said, rocking the baby slightly as they walked back into the nursery from the bedroom. For the better part of the last thirty minutes, she’d been sitting at the side of the tub while giving Gabriel a bath. A couple of days ago had passed since she spoke with Darren about possibly needing to get a different kind of soap. Reddish rashes started popping up on Gabriel’s soft skin. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.”

Sherry, now having been a live-in nanny for Gabriel for nearly a month, did as she always did when the baby would get into a fit after a bath. She would sing random melodies to him, rocking him gently at the side of the crib. The winter had come and gone with shivering, icy temperatures and a few snow storms. When Sherry officially started her job, she would walk Gabriel over to the window, open the curtains quickly, and the sudden burst of ice cycle-filtered lighting commanded the baby’s attention in a way Sherry had never seen before. Now, as Spring rolled up to the curb with premature warm temperatures, she simply rocked Gabriel until he relaxed enough to finally fall asleep. She checked his diaper before walking away from the crib.

Shortly after pulling Gabriel’s door up to where it was ajar a few inches, the front door opened then closed downstairs. She leaned over the banister and saw the top of Darren’s head. He had been gone most of the day, supposedly going to meetings as usual. Sherry still hadn’t gotten a full gauge of what all this guy did, but she certainly felt it would be out of place to ask. Aside from this, she still wondered why this good-looking, seemingly accomplished guy would adopt a child and raise him alone. Sherry wasn’t sure if she’d ever even heard of such a thing. She’d gotten to know him even better over the last month or so and thought there was no way he would have a problem getting a wife.

Sherry stopped by her bedroom to get her phone then headed downstairs. Her downtime was always a bit odd, as it was unpredictable to say the least. She figured she’d go ahead and finally have the snack that she was putting off since lunch time. As she headed into the kitchen, she heard Darren moving around in the kitchen. “Hello,” she said as she stepped over the threshold.

Darren smiled and said, “Hello,” then watched Sherry put a lunch meat sandwich together on the kitchen island. He couldn’t help but to notice her how body had been getting in better shape consistently over the last several weeks. Sherry’s demeanor and spirit had obviously become more positive. Some of the glow she’d lost somewhere along the way since their one-night stand was slowly coming back. Still, since her moving into his house and officially taking the role as nanny, he wondered what she’d gone through. If he didn’t know any better – and with the sheltered, privileged life he’d had, he very well could not know better – he would’ve thought she was losing weight after having a child. Even if such were the case, it still wouldn’t explain the wear and tear in her face. Sherry’s eyes were still colder than Darren remembered...and he still looked for segways in conversations where he might be able to get a little more insight into how her life had really been before she got this job. A price couldn’t be put on her seemingly natural bond with Gabriel.

“So, how was he today?” Darren asked.

This question had become a regular occurrence for Darren to ask when he got home. And Sherry noticed this. “He was alright,” she answered, nodding her head. “You remember how I was mentioning a rash he’s getting now that I’m noticing when he gets out of the bath tub? I’m noticing that more and more...but mainly it only looks flared up when he gets out of the bath.”

“The soap,” Darren said. He spoke with a pediatrician over the phone already who advised that if trading out the baby’s soap for something more sensitive could very well solve the problem. “Okay. Thanks for keeping me up to date on that. Can you just go and get something more sensitive for his skin?”
Darren and Sherry went back and forth for a few moments more about Gabriel’s skin rash then the conversation fell flat. Sherry went back to putting her sandwich together. Darren, who had come into the kitchen to get a glass of lemonade, wandered over toward the French doors. He looked out for a moment then pulled one door open. A strong whisk of warm, humid wind whipped into the dining room then rushing into the kitchen. When it collided with Sherry’s shoulder, she closed her eyes. Literally the perfect temperature.

Darren stepped out onto the terrace for a moment. He slipped his jacket off and tossed it over the back of a chair. His eyes fell on the grill shortly after looking up at the sky. This night was particularly warm for a night in early march. If that had been any other year, there could’ve very well still been snow on the ground. Smiling, Darren nodded his head. And he truly believed he had just what he needed in the refrigerator already.

Sherry had just turned toward the French doors. With her sandwich in hand, she’d just been about to take a bite when she noticed Darren rush back into the dining area. He zigzagged around the furniture then made a beeline for the refrigerator. Sherry smiled. This guy is really a character...in his own kind of way.

Darren ransacked the refrigerator then worked his way to the freezer. Seconds after he got a glimpse of the box, he repeated “yes” at least twenty times as he pulled the box of Omaha steaks out of the back of the freezer than grabbed a bag of jumbo, deveined shrimp he’d picked up a couple of weeks ago. It only took him seconds to pull at least a dozen seasonings and marinades out. By the time he’d gotten peppers, tomatoes, and an onion out of the fridge and bunched them on the table with everything else, he noticed Sherry. She’d been standing at the other end of the kitchen island.

Darren smiled, feeling a bit silly. “Tonight would be a great night to grill out,” he said. “Why not? I caught up on just about everything I had to do today. Don’t anticipate much going on tonight. It’s so warm outside for march.”

Sherry smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I sat out back with Gabriel for a little bit earlier. It’s totally warm for this time of the night. I got a glimpse of the news earlier and I think that maybe a storm might be coming, but I really wasn’t paying attention.” She looked past Darren and out at the backyard then up toward the clouds. The clouds did look heavy and gray; however, anything severe looked a little far off at the moment.

“You want some?” Darren asked. “I’m going to grill these steaks, some shrimp. Vegetables. Back in Chicago, I used to grill out a lot while I was in college. Something about grilling all your food...it just seems healthier.”

Since about a month before starting the job, Sherry had been working more adamantly about losing the baby weight. And she was seeing success. In just six months, she lost twenty pounds and it showed. She’d been eating lighter foods as well as drinking more water. She looked down at her sandwich and figured she could go ahead and have some grilled steak and shrimp. I can’t turn something like this down.

Sherry shrugged her shoulders then set her sandwich down on the counter. “Sure,” she said.

Darren chuckled under his breath and looked into Sherry’s eyes for a couple of seconds too long. “Okay, let’s see.”

Sherry poured a glass of lemonade then walked over to the dining area. She sat at a dining room chair and watched as Darren boiled, then seasoned or marinated the meat. Giggles sporadically slipped out of her mouth. Darren was a good businessman who clearly had been working his way up in the world in his new city. The fun part of him seeped out at times – at times where maybe he felt a little freer to be himself and not have to represent a certain look to be taken serious.

“So, I can’t take any part in this?” Sherry asked, raising her eyebrows.

Darren had gotten so carried away. He paused and looked down at the vegetables. He’d been waiting on the gas grill to warm up. Sherry cooked for herself as well as small things for Gabriel; however, Darren really hadn’t seen her do anything major.

“Do you grill?” Darren asked, playfully squinting his eyes.

Sherry walked back into the kitchen and stepped up to the other side of the kitchen island. “Did it all the time growing up,” she said. The words came out so naturally – effortlessly – however, it came with a bit of a sting. As the days had gone on and she was more and more used to caring for a baby, she found her family on the line. “I was the princess of barbecue in my family. People would come to family events at our house because they knew I was going to be grilling.”

Darren’s head leaned back as a playful gesture of disbelief. He then looked at Sherry for a good, long moment, up and down. This chick looks like she’s telling the truth. “Oh, yeah?”
Sherry nodded and came around to the other side of the island. “Yeah, seriously. I always liked my meat grilled, so my dad would do it for me all the time. Then, when we started having hard times when I was a teenager, he had to work a lot more. Well, he was a trucker, so he gone at a lot longer times than usual. So, I learned how to do it and liked doing it. The men in my family hated my guts.”

Darren nodded his head, trying to not smile. “Okay.” He set one steak in front of her then pulled grilling supplies out of the cabinets. “Let’s see whose steak comes out better.”

Sherry giggled. This job became more and more interesting everyday. She took the steak, looked up into Darren’s eyes then smiled. “Okay, time for me to show you how to do it.”

Darren and Sherry went on with preparing their steaks, each using their own techniques for pre-cooking, tenderizing, and marinating. When Darren offered Sherry some vegetables to make her own creation, Sherry playfully scuffed as if she were insulted. “Grilling vegetables is for lightweights.”

Darren laughed out loud. Once he and Sherry went on about preparing their food, the silence was too loud for either of them. Darren poured a glass of wine to accompany the warm wind rushing into the house from the opened french doors. He quickly made his way around the kitchen and dining area and opened every window – every French door. Breezes at time pulled curtains up into the air. Darren looked over at Sherry. With every passing day since her arrival, he wanted to know her story. So many times, he chose to bite his tongue rather than open up a wound. He watched Sherry take a sip of her wine then put it down.

“Do you miss your family?” Darren asked.

“Uhh,” Sherry said, collecting her thoughts. “At times, I do. At times.”
“Oh, I see,” Darren said.

“You?” Sherry asked.,

Darren shrugged his shoulders, going on about getting his vegetable skewers prepared as he explained. “Sometimes, I do, but not often.”

Sherry chuckled. “Wow.” She imagined his family to be the kind of people someone would want their family to be. This guy sure didn’t come from a shabby background. “Why do you say it like that? What could be wrong with your family?”
Darren looked up at Sherry with serious eyes then smiled, breaking his mean stare. “My family….my family.” He clicked the back of his teeth with the tip of his tongue. “They’re a bunch of snobby people who only want to be friends with people because of what they can do for them. Some of it is okay, but sometimes it just seems wrong. It’s hard to explain. I was always the one out, I guess you could say. There were just certain words I didn’t want to be in.”

Sherry nodded, translating Darren’s explanation in her mind. “Oh, okay.” Badly she wanted to ask specific questions about this guy’s background. Still, even after three weeks, Sherry noticed Darren’s word choices and how he was never too revealing. “Well, my family are...are...conservative, let’s say.”

Darren nodded, but wasn’t surprised to hear Sherry’s response. Growing up in Chicago and going with his parents to political events and meetings over in Indiana at times, he was very aware of the cultural and social differences between Chicago and a place like rural Indiana. “Yeah, I can see that.”

“No, it’s a little worse than you probably would imagine, actually,” Sherry said. “They’re like conservative to the max. On steroids. They’re not bad people or anything like that, but they can be kind of controlling.”

Darren nodded. He picked up on how Sherry looked for a moment as she explained. Obviously, her relationship with her family brought about a bit of anguish to think about. Darren’s relationship with his family wasn’t so tense, per se. Now that he adopted a child without getting married, his name certainly came up more. On top of that, Darren didn’t go for being mom’s pawn in Chicago’s corrupt, political world. He rarely made an event like his other cousins or his brother John.

“Okay, so when people say conservative, what do you really mean?” Darren asked. “Like are they super religious.”
Sherry giggled – a giggle which disrupted the flow of the conversation by turning into an outright laugh. “That’s funny.” You can tell this guy is from a place like Chicago. “Well, that’s one thing. They do go to church every Sunday, but it’s not like they go around knocking on peoples’ doors early on a Saturday morning.” She chuckled. “It’s more like they believe you should live a certain way...by a certain formula. Daughter should be married and settled by thirty. Having baby’s out of wedlock? They will smile in your face, but just know it’s not all smiles when they’re back at the house, congregated in the living room, talking about you with a cold drink in their hand.”

“I see,” Darren said then chuckled. “Mine is kind of the same way, but they just pay the way out of it.”

Sherry nodded then looked down, reminiscing about some of the hard times they had growing up. “How you figure that then?” she asked, smiling.
Sherry listened to Darren talk about his family wanting to rule the world and do anything to get to that point. His mother kissed any important ass she could; has worked for twenty years as a kick-ass attorney who Darren believed probably took kickbacks. His father was basically a slumlord, even though that “enterprise” wasn’t his only source of income. He owned more than a hundred low-income properties around Chicago and in Northern Indiana. Fixing stuff for people? The man shrugged and said, “Whatever the law says and work down the list by how much their rent is.”

“Oh, wow,” Sherry said, getting a mental image of a top heavy guy in a trench coat with a devious look on his face. “That’s intense.”

Sherry and Darren continued on finishing up their talk about their families. Much to the others surprise, they each were the “black sheep,” so to speak, of the family. Sherry had become virtually estranged because she didn’t want to play by her family’s rules. Darren was “in touch,” but it was certainly easy of to not keep in contact for years at a time with anyone outside of his brother, mother, and father. He missed three cousins’ wedding, an uncle’s funeral as well as an aunt’s, and several family functions and trips. When he did come around, his family often bombarded him about his “adventures” – travels, incidents in bars, as well as questionable women that sent his mother straight to the phone so she could call somebody and get a background report.

Sherry laughed out-loud imagining a tall, stern woman on the phone waiting for information. “Your mother sounds like...like...like a real character.”

“Yeah,” Darren said.

Darren asked Sherry to join him out on the terrace when they put their meat on the grill. She picked up her glass then followed him outside. They sat out on the section that reached away from the back part of the roof. Every time Sherry sat out here with Gabriel, she felt like she was in a new world. This yard is so beautiful.

And now here Sherry sat, across the table from Darren. She noticed how content this guy seemed to be with being a single father. Still, she hadn’t figured out why this guy would opt to adopt rather than get married. Shortly after a warm breeze whipped across the terrace once again, an idea was left behind in its aftermath. The trees shading this corner of the terrace rustled their leaves as Sherry turned toward Darren.

“Your mother sounds like she probably wouldn’t be happy with any woman you brought home,” Sherry said.

Darren chuckled and sipped his wind. “Well, she was always nice...and she always wanted to know what their parents did for a living. Everyone of them is the enemy and could potential take everything.”

“Yeah, my dad used to run off every boyfriend I ever had,” Sherry said. “Well, not literally I should say. There were a few that stuck it out, but my dad was something that certainly came up if we were close to breaking up.”

Darren shook his head and laughed. “Yeah, one day Darren will be dealing with that.”

“Yeah,” Sherry said. She noticed again how Darren deflected from talking about his love history to the extent she wanted.

Darren and Sherry looked at one another for a second too long then looked away. Neither had anything to say. Sherry glanced over at Darren. Her perception of him had really changed tonight. For some reason, she would think back to when they were dancing. At the time, Darren wasn’t even her type of guy, but when they danced, everything went in sync.

Darren glanced over at Sherry when she would look over at one of the rose gardens on the south side of the yard. She crossed her legs as if they were delicate. Her personality seemed to genuine – the total opposite of the world he came from. This woman was just trying to survive as herself and even her family had been cold to her. Darren could relate. The wine kicked in and the breeze felt perfect.

Sherry noticed Darren clear his throat. Her head started to buzz a bit; her blinks lasted a little longer. First, she smiled then Darren did. She took another sip of her wine, savored the taste, then jumped up. She made her way over to the grill. “Let’s get a good look at the greatest steak in the world.”

Darren laughed out loud. He then jumped up and rushed over the grill. “Yup, let’s see what mine is looking like.”

For the next couple of minutes, Darren and Sherry could hardly contain their laughter. They insulted the others steak then complimenting their own. Sherry said he needed to tenderize his meat a bit more; Darren insisted that Sherry’s would probably wind up a bit burnt. “The grasshopper will learn,” she said.

Darren laughed. Then, as the backyard trees above them rustled with another breeze, Darren turned and looked at Sherry. He didn’t turn around. Sherry noticed, turning away from her steak and setting the fork down. Before she knew it, Darren had gripped her chin and leaned over. He looked into her eyes for a long moment then they embraced one another in a passionate kiss. Sherry melted. The tension she had from her own hectic life, as well as finding herself working as a nanny to come out of a major slump – a nanny of a precious baby boy who was the exact same age her own baby and with the same name would be.

Darren kissed Sherry passionately for a long moment. It had been a long time since he kissed a woman like this. He struggled to finally pull his lips apart from Sherry’s. They smiled, Sherry biting her bottom lip as she looked up into his eyes. Admittedly, she was taken aback by the kiss. However, like the warm breeze rushing across the yard every couple of minutes, she couldn’t turn it away.

Sherry, this time, pressed her lips into Darren’s. They kissed passionately once again, getting lost in time while Darren positioned his hands on Sherry’s lower back and held her closely. Sherry eventually threw her arms up around Darren’s broad shoulders. She leaned forward a bit; Darren “caught” her, holding her in a slight suspension.

Darren broke the kissed, looked around deviously, then grabbed Sherry’s hand. Sherry giggled as she jumped up the step to keep up. Before she knew it, she lay back on an outdoor sofa between two of the sets of french doors. Darren leaned over her, his tall body overbearing her in just the way she liked. Sherry wrapped her legs around his back.

Sherry enjoyed the deep embrace then leaned her head back to breathe when Darren started making his way down her knees. Tickling sensations at times made her to laugh out loud. Darren laughed harder then kissing his way down to her chest. He pulled his head back and admired Sherry the same way he had back when he went to her place. He liked the size; the natural thickness of her chest. Kissing them softly was a great pleasure for Darren. And he could tell Sherry enjoyed it herself.

For the first time in a long time, Sherry felt like her old self. She rubbed Darren’s head and looked down every so often. He now made his way down her stomach. She shuttered when he would go too far over over to the sides. Darren chuckled sometimes in return. Of the hookups he had since Sherry, something about this one was different. Rarely did he connect on a personal level with a woman. He had gotten a dose of this feeling with Sherry when he’d gotten up the next morning and headed to the airport. The more time she spent in his presence, the more he had been wondering why he didn’t keep in touch with her.

Seeing Sherry loosen up in a way she hadn’t in a long time, Darren tugged at the waist of her pants. “You serious?” she asked.

Spontaneously was the name of the first ten years of his adult life. He shrugged his right shoulder and smiled. “Why not?”

Sherry smiled and giggled, remembering Darren from that night in her bed. For him to be a businessman kind of guy, he certainly was fun to hook up with. Fond memories came to mind when he thought about Darren after he went back to Chicago, but she never really saw herself as the kind of woman who would catch this kind of man’s interest.

No more persuading was needed. Sherry lifted her body up as Darren slid off her pants. He threw them to the side then lowered his own pants. The breeze felt so relaxing to their legs. This particular area of the terrace was not only covered by the protruding roof, but also by a thick row of bushes bordering the stone siding. At the front of the terrace were large corkscrew bushes, but spaced apart. The likelihood of the neighbors seeing was pretty slim. Neither Darren or Sherry cared. Certain anxieties and frustrations they both had been carrying on their shoulders recently slid off like boulders slipping over the edges of a cliff.

Sherry looked over at Darren as he stood up and took off his shoes then pants. “Somebody looks happy already,” Sherry said. She brazenly reached over and grabbed Darren’s bulge, much like the night at her apartment. His strong eyes turned to Sherry, then glanced down at her grabbing his bulge. Something about this chick. He looked down at her bare legs then ran his fingertips along the insides of her thighs. Watching her quiver then smile made his cock throb.

Darren lay back over Sherry and pressed his lips into hers. This time, he put his fingers in her hair and rubbed the top of her head. When they parted lips, he could see the weariness she battled started to dissipate from her eyes. After chuckling deviously, Darren smiled then Sherry watched his head slowly disappear from her vision as she looked up at the protruding roof. Vines slithered up the posts.

Sherry moaned from feeling Darren’s tongue slash about between her legs. It had been so long since she enjoyed this innate pleasure. She bit her bottom lip, sometimes closing her eyes for long periods of time. Every so often, pressure built up and she would feel her legs tensing up. When Darren slashed his tongue back and forth on her clit for nearly a minute straight, almost with perfect rhythm, Sherry’s jointed popped loud enough for both of them to hear then she started panting.

Darren took a big whiff; his jaws became sore. Sherry’s scent was just how he remembered it; whatever kind of soap she used mixed with her natural fragrance in such a way that created this pheromone Darren found hypnotic. Usually, he might be a little hesitant to give oral to a woman. But this was different. It seemed so natural – no debate, no going back and forth in his mind.

Several minutes later, Sherry’s urges overcame. This man had her back tingling in ways it hadn’t since her first love in high school. She squeezed the sides of Darren’s head with her inner thighs for a long pause then leaned down and pushed him back. Going with the flow, he sat up right on the couch with his legs spread apart. The rest of the world – the houses on either of his own as well as those across the alley – slipped away. Thick clouds rolled over Fort Wayne, but there was no place he would rather be than doing something so courageous out on his terrace...and with a woman like Sherry.

Darren leaned back as Sherry slid down onto her knees, between Darren’s legs. He chuckled, looking down at her in this position for the first time as it wasn’t something they did when they first hooked up. She is so hot.

Sherry maintained eye contact with Darren as she slowly lowered her head. Hidden by the protection of the bushes, vines, heavy shadows, and a privacy fence, Darren’s head fell back. His eyes rolled back into his head. “Fuck,” he said, the bass in his voice so low it nearly mimicked a faint whisper.

Darren moaned while running his hands through Sherry’s head as she orally pleased him. She grabbed the base then ran her tongue up and down the shaft. Her looking up and into his eyes turned him on in ways he’d never be able to describe if he were asked. The passion was real – intense. The connection, albeit not necessarily under the typical conditions – felt more genuine than with any other either of them had ever experienced. Darren relived the feeling of being young with the first girl he liked, free of the stressed and expectations of his elite family. Sherry’s felt as if her chest was lifted of a major burden, like she could breathe again. She felt like her first time making out in the back of her parents’ car with her boyfriend when they were gone to Indianapolis. This was spontaneous – daring, maybe even a bit risky. And that’s why she loved it.

“Damn,” Darren said. He gently pulled Sherry’s head up and looked into her eyes for a moment before pressing his lips into hers. They kissed then smiled at one another. He chuckled.

Sherry looked into Darren’s eyes and felt as if their hearts were speaking to one another. She lifted herself up onto the couch and planted a knees into the cushion on either side of Daren. Darren, like the frat boy he’d famously been known as in his college years, pressed his face into Sherry’s chest and laughed as he slammed the sides of his face in the middle. The warmth contrasted so well with the warm breeze. When he pulled his face out of her bosom, he positioned his mouth over Sherry’s nipples then flickered his tongue. Sherry’s gasped, rubbing the back and sides of Darren’s head seductively.

Sherry giggled from Darren’s playful ways when it came to bouncing his face around in her chest. Just when he pulled her head down to his eye level so they could kiss again, the rain tapped on the porch roof. They both looked up then out at the rest of the yard. The sky had darkened; heavy clouds gradually swelled. Lightning flickered in the distance, beyond the high-rises downtown. The breeze had intensified. Trees visibly swelled. Within a split second, the light taps on the roof turned into thumps. Rain poured from clouds; thunder roared in the skies. The three sides of the porch looked as if they were bordered with a wall of water. Darren smiled, getting Sherry’s attention by smacking her ass, then going back to kissing her neck. With the storm as their background music, they kissed passionately until Sherry pulled away and looked down. She wrapped her hand around Darren’s cock then lifted herself up.

Curse words slipped out of Darren’s mouth as Sherry lowered herself onto his shaft. Her insides felt better than he remembered; he still smelled her scent around his nose, tasted it in his beard as well as at the corners of his lips. Ever so casually, Darren positioned his hands on Sherry’s hips. She winced a bit from feeling her insides stretch, but the slight pain felt so good.

Breathing in sync with the other, Sherry leaned forward gently as she got used to Darren being inside of her. He kissed both of her breasts delicately then leaned back and looked up at Sherry’s cocked head, her face toward the ceiling. He guided her to bouncing until she eventually collapsed over top of his head. She moaned as they caught on to the others rhythm. Soon enough, she was rising up Darren’s just enough to where his head almost slipped out then all the way down, where she would grind a bit. She could tell it drove Darren crazy.

Darren’s buzz carried his mind in places it hadn’t been in a while. After pressing his face into Sherry’s chest and motor-boating one again, he locked his arms around her back and pulled her close. Sherry enjoyed the closeness, but was then took by surprise when she felt Darren rising up. A sudden nervousness came over her. Heavy rain had long suppressed whatever anxieties she harbored.

Before Sherry knew it, Darren stood all the way up and held her up in mid-air. He turned his back – his bare butt – toward the wall of water running off the sides of the porch. A powerful lighting bold struck in the distance. Sherry kissed Darren passionately. It’d been so long since she’d been turned on this way – since a man picked her up and made love to her while holding her. This sort of safety was a feeling she needed with the life she’d been having lately.

Using his strength carefully, Darren leaned back a bit and bounced Sherry up and down on his cock with her face toward the back yard. He lifted her up and out as far as possible without slipping out; they both sighed from the wind slipping between their bodies. A warm jolt, a bit humid, yet comforting, whisked across the terrace.

Darren held Sherry up for several minutes, pummeling her so hard he felt her behind swaying with each thrust. Her moaning slipped into his ears with how her head rested on his shoulder. Every so often, Sherry would open her eyes, feeling nearly numb from the pleasure, and look out at the storm wreak havoc on the backyard. Just as Darren had backed up toward the couch once again, positioned to lower Sherry onto her back, a branch flew up onto the terrace. The startled feeling disrupted their passion – their release of pent-up lust – as it crossed the terrace, scraping against the concrete.

Darren looked back, stroking Sherry’s blond air. “Let’s go inside,” he said then bit his lip. He leaned over and kissed Sherry briefly before guiding her by the hand back into the house. The enthralled lovers fell into a locking embrace on the couch, Sherry on her back. The warm storm wind rushed into the now-dim house. It wasn’t long before Darren aggressively positioned Sherry on the couch with her legs open and spread wide. He pressed in the middle then pushed inside of her.

“You are so beautiful,” Darren said, leaning in to kiss her.

Sherry wrapped her arms around Darren’s back while he stroked into her with so much precision – concentration. Her moaning turned into sudden groaning outburst. Darren kept going, never letting up, eventually causing the pressure to build in Sherry. Her whimpers became loud-pitched; his breathing was the only thing she could hear as her wine-induced buzz alleviated her in ways she hadn’t felt in a long time. Sherry gripped his back as hard as she could as he pounded her with all of his body weight.

“I’m about to come,” Sherry announced. She then squealed. Lightening lit up the sky just as Darren licked the rim of her ear. “Darren, I’m about to cum.”

Darren leaned up to kiss Sherry. He then straitened his back, pulling his head up and looking down into her eyes. “Yeah?”

Sherry nodded, her stomach tensing up as she tried to catch her breath. “I’m about to come...I’m about to come.” She repeated herself several times, the pitch in her voice rising slightly each time. The pressure was almost unbearable, but she wouldn’t want it to stop.

Darren focused extra hard as he stroked in and out of Sherry’s insides. Her body started trembling; uncontrollable squeals slipped out of her lips. When Sherry’s eyes rolled back into her head, he leaned over and rested his head on her shoulder. Listening to his grunts turned her on even more.

Sherry announced that she was about to erupt, so Darren made sure to keep up with the thrusting. He wiped away the sweat building up on his forehead as he too felt himself getting closer. This had to be the best sex he had in a long while. The aroma of their sex blended with the storm smell of the breeze coming in front outside. Neither had the rain nor the thunder and lightening lightened up.

Sherry panted as she finally started to come down from her orgasm. She looked up into Darren’s face and started rubbing his pecs. He’s definitely good in bed, she thought.

Darren kept his stroke up for another couple minutes. Then, his body started twitching; his balls tensed up. A heavy bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face as he looked down into Sherry’s eyes with such a concentrated look. He groaned. “Here I...I’m...”

Darren didn’t even get to finish his words before he felt himself cumming. Struggling to catch his breath, he collapsed into Sherry’s body. She was pleasantly surprised to feel his delicate kisses tickling her chest. The storm never seemed to stop, acting a the perfect backdrop to their lovemaking. A clump of her hair stuck to her forehead. Sherry slid it out of the way then rubbed the top of Darren’s head.

Several minutes passed where the two simply enjoyed laying on top of one another before Darren finally got up. Gabriel’s crying had slid down the stairs and now into the dining area. Darren stood up then headed over to the french doors. He quickly gathered his and Sherry’s pants and shoes from the terrace. His buzz had gone with his orgasm; the frustration that had built up inside of him was suddenly relaxed. What did we just do? Hope the neighbors didn’t see. Feeling like a teenager who pulled something off while his parents were gone, he rushed back inside as if he didn’t want to be seen. He pulled the french doors shut then headed over to Sherry where they dressed themselves. Sherry then rushed upstairs.

“Oh, Gabriel,” Sherry said, lifting the child out of his crib. “Did the storm scare you? Huh? Is that what it was? Did the storm scare you?”

Sherry rocked Gabriel in her arms, wondering if maybe God had been trying to tell her something. Truly, what were the chances she’d be working as a nanny for a guy from Chicago who came from an affluent family? Who would’ve ever thought she’d be taking care of a baby the same age as the one she’s recently given up for adopting? She enjoyed taking care of this child, as well as the perks that came with it. In many ways, she felt a natural connection to the child – a connection she didn’t anticipate when she saw the job and decided to investigate what it was really like to work as a nanny. She did chuckle, though. “And who woulda thought I would be outside during a storm, banging his father?” she murmured under her breath.

Darren came to the top of the stairs and smiled a few minutes later after taking their meat off of the grill. He looked into Gabriel’s room. Sherry gently rocked the baby at the side of his crib. His lips parted so he could say something, but instead he stopped. Almost moving in silence, he crossed the hall and stepped into the darkness of his own master suite.

It took Sherry ten minutes to calm baby Gabriel. She lowered him back into the crib then stepped up to the window, looking out. The storm didn’t look as if it were going to stop anytime soon.

Sherry headed over toward the staircase and paused as she looked down. Did Darren and me really just have sex?

Before Sherry got two steps down, Darren stepped out of his bedroom. He stood there, silent, but Sherry heard exactly what he was saying without speaking any words. She crossed the hall and stepped into his room. After some flirtatious words back and forth, Sherry succumbed to Darren’s arms. They never turned on any lights; thunder rumbled and rain showered the city. Sherry and Darren slowly drifted in an early, deep slumber.

***

By the morning, the storm had moved on, leaving Ft. Wayne soaked with a few inches of water. Darren slid out of bed gently to where he didn’t wake Sherry. She slept hard as a rock. He got his pants and shit out of his closet then used the bathroom in the hallway to get ready instead of in the master suite. It was nearly 9 o’clock before he finally got out of the house; he pulled up at his insurance agent’s office around 9:30, barely making it on time because of getting caught by the last car of a train.

When Darren stepped out of Mr. Perry’s office, he checked his phone. The MISSED CALL alert popped up. His brother John had called.

“Hello?” John answered when Darren climbed back into his car and called back. He’d been thinking about last night, on the terrace, anytime he wasn’t directly interacting with his agent. Even though he had a busy day ahead of him, he’d probably still stop in the house. He vividly remembered how Sherry had been sleeping so beautifully before he pulled his bedroom door up and got moving with his morning.

“What’s going on?” Darren asked. “I saw you called.”

“Yeah, I was just calling to see how things were going,” John said. “I was seeing on the news that you all got hit with a big storm last night. They’re showing a bunch of power outages, some trees and shit down. Some river...don’t remember the name...is flooding.”

Darren had been daydreaming about the wall of water that surrounded his love making session with Sherry and how it made it all the more erotic. “Yeah, man, it was pretty bad. But I can’t really complain. I mean, it was pretty cool for banging the nanny out on the terrace.”

“What?” John asked. He then chuckled. “What the hell are you talking about, Darren? Banging the nanny out on the terrace? You can’t be serious?”

Darren reminisced for milli-seconds about Sherry’s scent down between her legs. “Man, best experience of my life.”

“Oh, God,” John said. “Dude, this already sounds like a bad idea. You can’t really be banging your nanny. And she lives in your house, too? Dude, what are you thinking? I mean, seriously.”

“Oh, calm down, John,” Darren said. “You probably wish you could be banging your nanny.” He chuckled loudly, knowing his brother was probably getting the most repulsive mental image – a 65-year-old woman who wore huge glasses, was overweight, and didn’t particularly look well-preserved.

“Man, too much,” John said. “Mental image, mental image.”

John scolded his brother further about sleeping with his nanny. Darren never backed down from his position. He explained how he and she started talking and that he truly felt a connection with her. Darren made sure his brother was aware of Sherry’s genuine and natural care for Gabriel. Their grilling competition was cute, to say the least.

“Man, here you go,” John said. “Getting involved in some scandalous kind of stuff.”

“Scandalous kind of stuff my ass,” Darren said. “Dude, you act like we’re famous or something. It’s not that serious.”

“Well, maybe you’ll fall in love with this one...finally,” John said then chuckled. “The nanny...and you, a single guy who adopted a baby. I swear, you really do always have the most interesting stories.”

Darren’s eyes slanted toward the phone. “Here you go, again.”